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Santa Anita Racetrack

HBO suspended its filming of horses following the third death at Santa Anita Racetrack in connection with the dramatic series "Luck."

A horse was euthanized at the track on Tuesday after the animal reared and fell back, suffering a head injury, NBC LA reports. The horse was being led to a racetrack stable when it accident occurred, according to HBO.

"Luck," a Dustin Hoffman-starring production in its second season, was already the focus of a PETA complaint. The organization says it sent a notification to local law enforcement to investigate the deaths of two other horses that were hurt in racing scenes and euthanized during the first season of filming in 2010-2011.

Though this week's accident did not occur during filming or racing, The American Humane Association insisted in a statement that a stoppage in the filming of horses, "remain in full effect pending a complete, thorough, and comprehensive investigation."

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Photo by Michele Markel Connors via Flickr Creative Commons

In the face of dramatic funding cuts Santa Monica College's governing board has approved a two-tier course pricing plan for a number of its in-demand classes.

Students under the new plan would be charged a higher price to take a course when the state-funded classes fill up. It is believed to be the first program of its kind in the country, reports the L.A. Times.

Regulated course fees at SMC are currently set at $36 per unit, and are expected to rise to $46 this summer.

The two-tier plan would see the college create a nonprofit foundation to offer select popular classes at approximately $200 per unit, and the structure could go into effect as soon as the upcoming summer session. It would expand to the entire academic year if the program is successful.

"The mechanics of the program are still being worked out, but generally the higher-cost classes would become available after state-funded classes fill up. The winter session may offer only the higher-cost classes, officials said," notes the Times.

According to the Times, the negotiated initiative "would contain a smaller sales tax increase than the half-cent hike Brown originally proposed, but would require upper income earners to pay more than the 1- to 3- percentage-point income-tax increase Brown had called for."

As recently as Monday, Brown was appealing to chiefs of police to support his initiative, even as he conceded the ballot would likely be crowded with various tax proposals.

A deal could be announced today, the Times reports. But it could be a challenge to get a revised proposal on the ballot.